TV dinners! You, like TV dinners? Do you even call them TV dinners anymore? Nom-nom trays of food. The frozen ones. They don't really taste all that great do they? But they fill you up! I think TV dinners somehow always make the list of intrepid inventions that will eventually take the blame for the breakdown of families in America. Trays of high caloric food substance materials...it's sad, but they do get a bad rap! O.K. I agree that it's not all that wonderful to sit with your family at meal time in front of a TV, all eating separate meals, everyone sitting alone behind individual 'TV trays'; no one facing each other, because you're all facing the screen -yeah, it's not the best way to bond as a family! But don't pick on the TV dinner! I will be the first to say (and I know I'm probably not actually the first to say) that there is no question about it, no denying, that the invention of the TV dinner is absolutely, legen..."wait for it"...dary! So I stole that from Barney Stinson...You've got to imagine how fascinating that would have been at the time, to go from an old conventional way of living: cooking for hours, standing over the stove, pitting, peeling, mashing, boiling, trimming, tenderizing, marinating, frying, etc etc... just to make one meal, to the new, simplistic life =reaching into your freezer, pulling out a single tray full of food, popping it into an oven, and soon after you get a fully cooked, well balanced meal! Okaaaay, so not so well balanced, but at least it's one that had been previously wrapped, packaged, and frozen for our convenience! No wonder such a lifestyle was easily adopted! And that was even before the microwave was invented!
So, after all these many years, since the 1950's, fully cooked-frozen meals have never stopped selling! Look around, they're even selling more! Look at how many frozen food isles there are in the grocery store! Our appetite for quick fix food will continuously increase..Listen to this, I don't even like to have to wait the minute that it takes for my oatmeal to cook in the microwave! And waiting for my toast to pop-up! Boring! Silly huh!? It's true though, and that's why we buy pre-cooked, pre-packaged, frozen meals. It's the same thing as buying a TV dinner, though. By the way, the name was changed from "TV Dinner" to "Frozen Meal" in the early 60's. I think it had to do with bad marketing. The critics were like, "you shouldn't eat in front of a TV with your family...not good", so they took the name TV off the label. BOO! I like TV in front of my dinner, or actually dinner in front of the TV. :) But that's only because my kids are mostly grown. I say mostly because I only have the one at home. We still eat at the table, for the record.
Old fashioned TV dinners are "cheap" or "unhealthy", right?! Whatever! They're no different than the frozen pizzas or frozen waffles in your freezer. Go open up your freezer and look. Look at your frozen foods! Yeah, those frozen fruits you got there, and the vegetables! Whaaaaaaaat you mean you didn't grow your own vegetable?! You know what, we're all the same (unless you do happen to grow your own vegetables and do things 100% organic). Otherwise we all like the convenient, no-talent cooking, easy lifestyle. So to make a long story short, I ate a "Hungry Man"! I was hungry, I wanted to eat something without cooking, so I at the Turkey meal and I'm not hungry anymore! I'm not condoning eating high-caloric, super-sodium, bad-carb, comfort-meals all the time, but sometimes :)
Yesterday I was out looking for a video game called Halo Reach, yes an old game, but Alex broke his a long time ago and I was hoping to replace it. We were in the game isle and Andy saw "Diablo III". He commented on how much he wanted it, but he knew we weren't going to buy it! Uh, No! Except...we did! Well, I bought it because I knew he really wanted it so I kind of felt bad that he didn't get it, so I surprised him. After I left the store I told him I bought him a surprise. He said, "Oh really?" I told him, "Guess what it is.", and he said, "I'm pretty sure I already know." yeah, he was right. Funny thing, though, after he found out that he now owns Diable III, he kept finding reasons to go home. It was funny! He was discreetly mentioning stuff that he needed to do at the house. I know he wanted to make a beeline home just to play his game. So I cut the trip short and came home.
I told Andy, "why don't we take our laptops, go up to the bedroom, and just chill side by side on the bed". Usually that means Andy plays a game on his laptop, and I open up 7 different windows on mine: my usual spread =Facebook, Twitter, gmail, ancestry.com, new.familysearch.org, a news link, and of course YouTube, so I can watch documentaries in the background (especially Neil Oliver documentaries).
Around 8 pm I noticed myself getting hungry so I told Andy that we would have to eat TV dinners tonight. Then I asked him if he could "cook" them. HAHA Hard job! It took about an hour, I guess. I went down and grabbed the meals, put them on a tray with a glass of milk, and brought them upstairs I had my laptop, he had his, we both put on our headphones (yes the big giant ones because they block out the noise and they sound the best!) and we went about our own agenda, but ate peacefully in our bed! Alone, but together. Or maybe together but alone. :) Whatever the case, we were happy to be around each other but doing our own thing!
That is why I appreciate the good 'ol TV dinner! Because in that moment, those boxed turkey and gravy provisions were kind of like a monument to our relationship! Symbolic of our marriage, if you will. How you ask? It's like this: Andy and I are at the point in our lives where, and mind you we've been together for 22 years, we like to be around each other, but we don't necessarily like to be with each other every moment of the day. We both appreciate each other, and like being able to sit next to each other, but we also like that we don't have to give 100% of our attention to one another. If you ask me, I prefer doing my own thing while he's working on his. It's like a baby learning to play on their own, they peak around the corner to confirm that mommy's still there, and after they confirm it they go back to playing on their own. Sometimes we can be in the same house all day and not see each other for hours! You see, we both love our personal space! Now, do I mind that he can play a computer game for hours at a time? Once in awhile! But not too often. Most of the time I don't mind because I get to do things my way. All by myself. I get the personal space I need! That's what I really want in life...personal space!
I know it's not healthy for all couples to be independently entertained like this, but it's great for us. I'm glad that I've come to grips with the fact that Andy and I are just not like a lot of couples who can just talk and talk and talk to each other all day! They can do everything together! Watch movies together, play games together, fold laundry together, clean together! I can't figure out why anyone would want that. Yes, we do talk, but it's usually when we are out walking the dogs, or in the car, or when something really needs to be discussed. Mostly it's right before we fall asleep at bedtime. Other than that, we like our silence. Maybe it's because we're so used to Alex filling the air with noise 24 hours a day that by the time that child is done talking we are exhausted! Anyway, don't be surprised if ever you call looking for Andy and I tell you, "I don't know where he is, I'll have to go find him." It's true!
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| We are having a romantic evening with TV dinners ! OK the cheesy pic is my idea, of course. He really loves me to go along with it like he does! |
On a final note, we sure are some old folks set in our ways. That's hard to swallow that fact when you want your spouse to do things differently at times. Who doesn't? But I've had to face the fact that we're all grown up now, and no one is changing. We are who we are! Strange! With Andy and me, you can't have one without the other. The storms we've weathered together have made us rock solid, even though once in awhile we want to push the other one off the face of the earth, it's just what happens when two people become too much like one another. Bummer! But yeah, 20 years of marriage, what can you expect? TV dinners.
